Following reports of patients being forced to wait on the floor in the overcrowded Galway ER, INMO is calling for an investment in beds and staff.

It also wants an external review of hospital practices in the west of the country.

Ms Treacy said: “On average there are nine nurses on duty and they can be caring for 70 or 80 patients. There were nine nurses to 120 patients one day.

“These nurses are burned out and stressed. The hospital has been offering counselling and well-being sessions over the last few months but it is not enough.

"It is not one bad day at work like other people have – every day is a bad day.”

She added the situation only looks as if it will get worse, saying: “Overcrowding was up 118% in August this year from August 2013.

“It’s moving into winter, where there is naturally an increase in the number of people coming in.” She added the closing of Roscommon A&E has added to the pressure in Galway as it is now the flagship hospital in the west.

There will be further disruption when 16 beds are closed at the end of October/start of November for building works.

Some spaces will be made available at the nearby Merlin Park Hospital but Ms Treacy said it is not enough.

She added everyone would benefit from investment in services.

The union official said: “If we could treat patients with dignity there would be a domino effect.

“Staff would receive less verbal abuse and with more staff they could also care for more patients.

“Patients are assigned a category when they are admitted and timelines for treatment are attached to each category. These timelines are consistently being breached.”

Another problem facing ER staff is that mental health patients must go through A&E first.

Ms Treacy said: “Recently a highly aggressive patient who needed psychiatric help was very, very aggressive with staff.

“It was not his fault as it is in the nature of his condition but he was next to older patients and children.”

The INMO met with hospital management on Tuesday night to discuss the issues.

Hospital bosses said on Tuesday they will take on up to 20 new staff but Ms Treacy noted some of these are merely replacing those leaving.

She added a review is vital to improving our failing health system and said: “It is key that we need a high-level investigation of commission, chaired by international experts to examine care in the region and from that we can form a template.”

She rubbished reports that the HSE is broke and added: “They need to prioritise the health of the nation. There is no choice but to put money into the frontline.”